The benefits of CPD for small businesses

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) has become a valuable resource for small businesses. With increased competition and rapid changes in technology and the business environment, CPD can play a crucial role in improving employee performance and underpinning successful business growth. The following article aims to explain the benefits of CPD for small businesses.

What is CPD?

CPD stands for Continuing Professional Development and is the term used to describe the learning activities professionals engage in to develop and enhance their abilities. CPD is a holistic approach towards the enhancement of personal skills and proficiency throughout a professional’s career.

At its core, Continuing Professional Development is about the individual and their commitment to ongoing lifelong learning. It encourages looking forward and identifying opportunities to learn something new, refresh existing knowledge, improve skills, or simply keep up-to-date with the latest developments within a particular profession or industry.

CPD combines different methodologies to learning, which includes training courses, seminars, workshops, conferences and events, webinars and online eLearning programs, as well as sharing best practice techniques, thoughts and ideas, all focused towards an individual methodically improving within the work environment.

How does CPD benefit small businesses?

There are a variety of benefits that CPD can bring to small businesses. The following identifies some of the key advantages a commitment to Continuing Professional Development can offer small business.

1. Increased employee motivation and staff retention 

Encouraging employees to pursue CPD opportunities makes them feel supported in the workplace and increases job satisfaction. Facilitating employee development makes them more likely to invest effort into progressing their careers within the business. Supporting CPD for employees ultimately leads to higher staff retention rates, as employees feel they are being invested in. Retaining staff has huge cost benefits for small business. 

2. CPD is cost effective for small business

The commitment of CPD as a concept to different forms of learning means effective CPD does not necessarily require a huge financial investment. While large multinationals may invest in expensive internal training programmes, CPD recognises the value in both structured learning (training courses, seminars, conferences) and unstructured learning (relevant books, articles, podcasts, online materials). 

Small businesses that actively incorporate CPD can benefit from the blend of different learning options without incurring substantial costs – reading a relevant industry article will sometimes be as beneficial as a structured training course. 

3. Increases competitiveness and potential for business growth

CPD can help employees improve their productivity and efficiency. As employees learn new skills, they can make processes more efficient and business more productive. This can lead to innovation and helps staff and a business as a whole stay aware of important industry trends and developments.

Small businesses that promote CPD for their employees are often seen as better employers. This builds reputation and can improve the quality of applications during recruitment. In addition, a highly skilled workforce increases credibility with potential customers and can lead to better business outcomes and a competitive edge in the market.

4. Ensures staff compliance with legal and regulatory requirements

In some industries, there are specific legal and regulatory requirements and these can change regularly. Focusing on CPD can ensure staff remain compliant with current legislation and avoid penalties and business disruption. Small businesses in the food and hospitality industry for example, will often have to navigate changing rules around hygiene, allergens and health and safety. An ongoing commitment to CPD can ensure staff remain aware of the current requirements in these areas.

5. Fills knowledge gaps in the workforce

CPD is an effective way of addressing knowledge gaps amongst staff. This can relate to technological advances or changes in the business environment – encouraging CPD will ensure employees are gaining the skills and knowledge to adapt to changing business needs.

6. Streamlines management processes

CPD can often be a focal point for management reviews and annual appraisals. Employees can align their CPD with the organisation objectives. This allows business and staff to actively cohere around the company strategy and mission.

7. CPD encourages flexible learning and a culture of learning

CPD emphasises and encourages employees to learn and develop skills on their own schedule and at their own convenience, thereby minimising disruption to work. In addition, the principle and philosophy of CPD is lifelong learning. Supporting CPD can help create a culture of learning within a business, which leads to the constant search for improvement, and translates in to business growth and success.

What are the best CPD courses for small businesses?

One of the best ways for small businesses to make sure they are going to get the most out of CPD is to take part in a CPD certified course. This will mean a course has had prior review by an established independent organisation to a recognised industry standard of learning.

The CPD Certification Service has over 27 years’ experience providing CPD accreditation across all industry sectors. We formally review and assess thousands of CPD training courses, eLearning, workshops, and events across a wide range of subjects on an annual basis. The list below is by no means exhaustive but includes some of the types of courses that have been CPD accredited and would benefit small businesses:

• Business Strategy courses - includes courses, training and events that explore the details of strategic management and opportunities to learn the methods and practises used to make effective business decisions and become proficient at comprehensive planning.
• Accounting and Bookkeeping courses - a variety of options ranging from accountancy for beginners to managerial level looking to understand financial planning and reporting.
• Marketing courses - includes covering areas such as marketing tools, how to target the ideal customer and develop marketing strategy.
• Social Media courses - options include learning the use of social media in marketing and business strategy, and understanding the different forms of social media and how they can apply in the business environment.
• Risk Management courses - includes learning the importance of risk management in business strategy and how an understanding can help comply with regulatory requirements.
• Sales skills training courses - covering sales at all professional levels including sales pitch, selling strategies and technique, and identifying and building trust with customers.

• IT courses - covering all aspects of IT, ranging from understanding the latest technology in a business environment to software use and IT security for businesses.
• Health & Safety courses - there are hundreds of health and safety courses and events for both beginner and senior management level, covering all industries and sectors.
• Food Hygiene courses - courses covering all aspects of food hygiene from a basic understanding of food preparation to advanced understanding of current legal and regulatory requirements.

Within the CPD Courses Catalogue, there are thousands of relevant training courses, events, e-learning programs, conferences, workshops and seminars on a number of different industries and subjects. All the training shown on our website has been reviewed and recognised as meeting the required benchmarks and is suitable for any Continuing Professional Development requirements.

More CPD articles for small businesses

There are also other useful articles and blogs for small businesses on our website, including the following:

Benefits of CPD for employers (Learn more)

How Does CPD Accreditation Improve my Business Profitability? (Learn more)

Simple business marketing tips for start-ups (Learn more)

Is it worth investing in online courses as a business owner (Learn more)

Become a CPD accredited training provider

We hope this article was helpful. Established in 1996, The CPD Certification Service has members in over 100 countries. Our CPD providers benefit from the ability to promote themselves as part of an international community where quality is both recognised and assured.

If you are interested in offering training courses, seminars, workshops, eLearning, or educational events suitable for Continuing Professional Development, please visit the Become a CPD Provider page or contact our team to discuss in more detail. 

Alternatively, if you are looking for a free online CPD record tool to help manage, track and log your ongoing learning, as well as store your professional training records and attendance certificates in one simple place, go to the myCPD Portal page.